Bogus workmen were key to cracking major drugs plot

At first glance there was nothing suspicious about the group of workmen digging up the high street outside a former clothes shop.

But when men started going in and out of the former Ethel Austin store with increased frequency, it would prove to be the catalyst for a major police investigation that would uncover an international conspiracy and see criminals from Merseyside and Greater Manchester jailed.

Police discovered a large-scale cannabis farm worth about £1.2m inside the shop, in Bangor, North Wales.

And the men digging up the road turned out not to be genuine workmen but criminals who were hooking up the building to the mains supply in order to power the huge drug operation inside.

When North Wales Police raided the cannabis farm they found two Albanian men cowering in a corner, both of whom claim to have been trafficked into the country to tend the 1,000 plants inside.

When the detectives watched CCTV footage of the road outside the shop, they were not immediately suspicious.

They saw workmen from two firms, Elev8 Civils and Utilities Ltd going about their work in their hi-vis jackets and hard hats.

The workmen had vans emblazoned with company logos, and had put up barriers and road signs to divert traffic.

But the reality was that the gang had been travelling all over England and Wales connecting various buildings to the mains supply, including one nearby which was found to contain a cannabis farm containing about £800,000 of plants.

In June 2023 the case crossed the desk of specialist officers at the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU), which is manned by detectives seconded from different forces in the region.

Leading the case was Det Ch Insp Zoe Russo, who soon realised that what would become known as Operation Spark was not a typical drugs case.

"We were hearing every day about cannabis farms that are uncovered," she said.

"But when you look at the scale and the gravity of this, that this one particular crime group have been going around the country and have been making it possible and enabling other crime groups to carry out this activity.

"It is shocking… I've not seen it on this scale."

Elev8 was eventually linked to operations in 54 locations all over the country. They would dig up electrical connections and divert electricity to empty houses, pubs, shops and nightclubs.

More than 100 cannabis farms were later connected to electricity supplies that had been illegally diverted.

The gang was found to have stolen electricity estimated to be worth millions of pounds.

As Det Ch Insp Russo and her team began probing Elev8, it led across the English border into Merseyside and Wigan.

Registered on Companies House as directors were Ross McGinn, from Huyton in Merseyside, and Andrew Roberts, from Wigan in Greater Manchester.

Outwardly both just looked like family men running a business, and it was later accepted in court that the firm did do some legitimate work.

But the men had deep connections to organised crime.

McGinn had served time in prison for supplying cocaine and cannabis and was released in 2016, while Roberts was jailed for supplying heroin and was let out of prison two years later.

Police realised one of the conspirators, 29-year-old "supervisor" Greg Black, from Huyton, had been arrested for unrelated offences in October 2022 and had his phone seized.

On the phone was a WhatsApp group of which the other defendants were members, and it included locations, photographs and discussions about various "jobs".

The men had been on the payroll of Albanian gangs, and knew exactly who their clients were.

Text messages sent by the men referred to "Albos", and they later admitted they knew who was ultimately paying for their services.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) and other agencies have previously identified Albanian gangs as exerting extraordinary levels of control over UK drug trafficking, and the NCA has said Albanian nationals were one of the most common victims of human trafficking.

NWROCU said investigations into the gangs paying Elev8 were ongoing.

Det Ch Insp Russo said Operation Spark had lifted the lid on how human trafficking and modern slavery can go hand in hand with organised cannabis cultivation.

"As in this case, organised crime groups recruit victims to work within the cannabis farms," she said.

"And unfortunately, these individuals are made to live in inhumane conditions, usually for weeks - and sometimes months - depending on how long it takes the farm to come to crop."

McGinn, Roberts and their accomplices were not directly involved in setting up the farms, and did not have shares in the profits from their eventual harvesting.

But James Allison, senior Crown prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: "The term professional enablers for organised crime describes their involvement.

"The work they did to divert the electricity was described by a professional electrical inspector as poor and often dangerous."

Det Ch Insp Russo and her team found evidence showing how dangerous the enterprise was.

On one occasion, the men started an electrical fire in a hole they had dug in a street but fled the scene, leaving it to burn.

On one of their phones, police recovered a photograph of Andrew Roberts with a serious burn to his forehead.

The man doing most of the cable jointing, 47-year-old Graham Roberts, who was not related to Andrew Roberts, was regularly complained about by other gang members, who described his poor workmanship in colourful terms.

Det Ch Insp Russo said: "Yes, it was sophisticated, but very, very dangerous."

By 8 February 2024, NWROCU had enough evidence to make arrests and a series of co-ordinated raids took place across northern England.

Alongside McGinn, Andrew Roberts, Graham Roberts and Black, those arrested were groundworkers Michael Ashurst, Lewin Charles, Aiden Durand, and Jack Sherry.

Although not involved in the digging directly, Scottish Power engineer Colin White, 62, from Wavertree in Liverpool, had been stealing from his employer to provide equipment to the group.

He was in close contact with McGinn and Roberts.

This week the men watched over video-link or from the dock at Liverpool Crown Court as they were sentenced.

• McGinn, 33, of Midway Road, in Huyton was jailed for five years and three months, while Andrew Roberts, 42, of Bell Lane in Wigan, received a six-year sentence

• Graham Roberts, 47, of Ryton Close, in Wigan, was jailed for five years and three months

• Black, 29, from Brookwood Close in Huyton, was jailed for three years and nine months

• Charles, 22, of Stanhope Drive in Roby, was jailed for two years and eight months

• Aiden Doran, 28, of Ormskirk Road in Wigan, was jailed for three years

• Jack Sherry, 20, of Keats Avenue in Wigan, was jailed for 22 months, suspended for 18 months.

All admitted encouraging or assisting the production of cannabis and conspiracy to abstract electricity.

White received two-and-a-half years after admitting conspiracy to steal, which McGinn and Andrew Roberts also admitted, and also encouraging or assisting the abstraction of electricity.

Michael Ashurst, 35, from Wigan is due to be sentenced on 13 March.

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